


Trust in Me

by Rillian_Rohirrim



Category: The New Legends of Monkey (TV)
Genre: Conversation, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Short One Shot, talking is good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26618056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rillian_Rohirrim/pseuds/Rillian_Rohirrim
Summary: Monkey wrestles with the discovery that Tripitaka has been hiding the fact that she's a girl. They talk it out.
Relationships: Monkey King/Tripitaka (The New Legends of Monkey)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	Trust in Me

“The world is always strange. This is just a new kind of strange,” Sandy began. “After all, Monkey, you hatched from an egg. Tripitaka being a girl is much more common than that. Lots of people are girls.”

“I know that. The strangeness is just that Tripitaka lied about it. I just don’t understand it!”

“I don’t know. Have you tried asking her?” suggested Pigsy.

Monkey sighed. “We’ve been busy ever since I found out. Davari was being evil and we had to fight him, and then ever since we’ve been traveling and trying to find the rest of the scrolls.”

“And you don’t think in all that travelling time, you could have found a moment to ask her?” Sandy asked. “It’s not like you haven’t been around her. Or that she wouldn’t tell you. Didn’t you say she told you she felt bad lying?”

“I don’t want to force her to talk about it if she’s uncomfortable. She didn’t seem to like the dress Davari put on her, and she’s still dressed as a monk and going by the name Tripitaka.”

“Ok, so leave it at that,” Pigsy shrugged. “It doesn’t seem to make a difference anyway, just now she doesn’t have to pretend to hate swimming to avoid being shirtless.”

“But why did Tripitaka lie about it in the first place?”

“Monkey. If you’re going to keep asking the same question you might as well start asking it to the one person who knows the answer. Not that I mind so much talking in circles, but you tend to get tired of it. And then you get grouchy and that’s no fun at all.” Sandy wandered off to find more firewood.

Monkey thought about it. Why had he been avoiding asking Tripitaka? Maybe he was nervous about what the answer might be. What if she’d been lying because she didn’t trust him, even after everything? The last time he hadn’t been believed about something important, he’d been imprisoned in rock. And while this was different, it still felt bad.

Soon Tripitaka returned, freshly washed after her trip to the river. She looked over at Monkey, then sat down near the campfire.

Gradually, Monkey stood up and walked over to her. He sat down at the fire, a respectable distance away, but still next to Tripitaka.

A moment of silence followed.

“So Tripitaka --” Monkey started quickly, then stopped. “Let me start again. Tripitaka.” A pause. “You’re a girl.” Another pause. “And have been the whole time.” Another pause. “What’s that about? Why…”

For all the many times he had wondered aloud with Sandy and Pigsy, he somehow couldn’t think of the words for his question when talking to Tripitaka.

“You want to know why I hid it?” Tripitaka supplied. She looked sad.

“I mean, yes, but if you don’t want to tell me....” Monkey trailed off.

“It’s ok. I guess it just feels strange to talk about it when I’ve been working so hard to keep it a secret.” She sighed. “I never meant to keep it a secret. I didn’t even mean for you to think I was a monk - I just needed a disguise to get out of the city and the monks helped me. And then I needed you to help me, so I became Tripitaka. But Tripitaka was supposed to be a warrior monk, not a girl.” She looked at him, eyes apologetic. 

“But then why did you stay in disguise? Once you freed me, I was ready to defend you from demons. And I never learned about Tripitaka, so I wasn’t expecting anyone at all. You didn’t have to be a warrior monk. Or a boy.”

“But the scholar said you would know who Tripitaka was, that all the gods would, and that they would help Tripitaka. And once I took on the disguise, I felt like I couldn’t stop wearing it or else you wouldn’t trust me. And all monks are men. It wouldn’t be a good disguise to be the only girl monk, people would know something was wrong.”

Monkey frowned. “Were you planning to act as a boy for the rest of your life?”

Tripitaka looked down at the ground. “Just until the quest was over,” she said in a small voice. “After that it wouldn’t have mattered anymore.”

“Why wouldn’t it matter?”

“”You’d be off in the rebellion, or with the other gods, and you wouldn’t have to be stuck with me anymore, so you would never have known.”

Monkey swallowed hard. “So when the quest ends, you’re just going to leave?”

Tripitaka looked up at him, teary eyed. It broke Monkey’s heart to see her like that.

“Once the quest is over you won’t need me anymore.”

“So you’ll just, what, go back home? Act like this never happened?”

“Of course not! The scholar is dead, and besides that I don’t have a home to go back to. But I’ll have to get out of the way.”

“Monkey moved closer to her. “You’re not in the way, Tripitaka,” he said earnestly. “Not at all.”

“But I won’t be any use in the rebellion. They probably don’t let girls lead anything, and I’m not a good cook.or anything that they might want.”

“You’re not as good a cook as Pigsy,” Monkey agreed. “But that’s a dumb thought. Why would they want you to cook? You’re a strategist. You know the written language of the gods. You’re good at lots of things!”

“The warrior monks who came to visit the scholar didn’t think I had anything to contribute. They just wanted me to serve tea. And they’re probably running the whole rebellion. There won’t be a place in it for me.”

“Tripitaka, that’s silly. If the rebellion doesn’t want you, then I don’t want them! We’ll just have to go on another quest.”

Tripitaka laughed a little at that. “You promise?” she asked.

“I promise” he smiled. “Enough quests to last us a lifetime, if need be.”

This time it was Tripitaka who moved closer. Now the two sat so close their arms brushed together.

“Tripitaka?” he asked. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes I do, Monkey. I trust you.”

“Good. That’s good.” It felt nice to be trusted.

“I trust you too.”

“You’re being awfully sentimental tonight” Pigsy said loudly as he walked into camp with a basket of greens.

“Ah, Pigsy. I can always count on you to intrude on sentimental moments,” Monkey said with a tight smile.

“Have you been having them often?” Sandy asked as she returned from the path behind Pigsy.

Tripitaka smiled. “I’m glad to be on this quest with all of you.”

“Aww, us too!” Sandy replied. “Now, what’s for dinner? I got plenty of firewood, so we can have a nice, hot cooking fire.”

The four of them set about making the camp ready for a nice evening’s rest on their journey. The quest would be ready for them in the morning.


End file.
